kigali

I'm here in Rwanda, and it's wonderful. Even the music that's now playing in the hotel restaurant sets Kigali apart from Kampala. Moderately volumed classy tunes. The streets don't have potholes, the sidewalks are clean, the whole downtown area is open and inviting. It's hilly, so panoramic views of the rest of the city are everywhere. I'm lucky enough to be staying in a hotel about a 2 minute walk from the center of the city (or what I can tell is the center of the city), and so all these qualities are right around me. Rwanda has had some major civil strife much more recently than Uganda, but it's not showing. So far Rwanda has surpassed Uganda in almost every way.

It's odd not being in an Anglo-centric environment. I'm spending Francs, and few people speak English, if not the local dialect of swahili they speak French. My wallet has dollars, francs and shillings in it - Rwandan Francs and Ugandan Shillings. And USD. It's an interesting experiment in foreign exchange. I've even seen different foreign exchange dealers with drastically different rates. Arbitrage opportunities down the street. But that's not why I'm here.

I plan on experiencing Kigali, and that's little more than visiting the genocide memorial and then spending some time at different restaurants the locals recommend. I'd say a country like Rwanda has three aspects. The city side of things, that I plan to see. The safari/wilderness side of things, the vast parts of the country that are beautiful and exotic, if really only available to rich tourists. Then the countryside and normal living of most Rwandans, a poor, agricultural life. I don't doubt it's different than that type of life in Uganda (the type of life I'm around all the time), but I bet it's the same in a lot of ways.

I'll post again when I've experienced more of Kigali. For now I have some reports to finish up. Cheers!